Sliding door



UNITED srA'ras Param erstes;

PAUL F. STACKE, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

sLIDING Doon.

Application led July 30,

T0 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, PAUL F. STACKE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sliding Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to a class of doors adapted to be operated slidably for opening and closing the doorways of structures especially cars.

The ordinary forms of such doors are provided with one or more fixed flanges protruding below the lower edge of the body of each door so as to movably fit in the groove of a rail, or overhang a rail arranged across the base, or floor of the doorway of a car or other structure for closing the space between the door and the base of the doorway. During inclement weather these doors frequently become diiicult to operate owing to ice and dirt clogging the rail, and furthermore in event of sagging of the base or floor of the doorway the doors require considerable alterations.

My invention has for its object primarily to overcome these objections by providing a sliding door designed to be employed for opening and closing the doorway particularly of a car whereby rain, snow and drafts of air will be prevented from passing under the door when closed, and which is of a form tending to compensate for any relative variation of the space between the door and the floor of the doorway. This is accomplished mainly by providing a substantially rectangular body with a recessed lower edge, and this body is adapted to be movably arranged on a doorway having crosswise of its base a fixed rail on which the body is slidable for opening and closingthe doorway. Extensibly movable inwardly and outwardly of the recess of the body is a guide formed so as to adjustably overhang the rail, in order to close the space between the body of the door and the base of the doorway.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention will be hereinafter more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and will then be pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a fragmentary Specification of Letters Patent.

` shows the guide in an extended Patented J une 15, 1920.

1917. serial No. 183,484..

view, partly in section, showing a doorway of a car with one form of door embodying my invention applied thereto. 1

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly in section, showing an elevation of the lower part'of the rear end wall of the door together with one form of rail on which the door is slidably arranged.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the lower part of the rear end wall of the door looking into one end of the recess in the lower part of the body thereof, and which position below the body of the door. f

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken crosswise through part of the lower end of the door showing the guide when moved interiorly 4of the recess of the door, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly broken away and partly in section, showing a portion of the lower corner of the door at its rear end wall.

open and closed positions will travel back and forth thereon, the rail being grooved, or of any other desired form so as to extend somewhat above the floor. The body 10 is preferably made of sheet metal bent to provide an inner wall 13, an outer wall 14 which is spaced from the inner wall, and the side edges as well as the top edges of these walls are bridged by a rear end wall 15,v a front end wall 16, and a top wall, not shown. The body 10 thus formed is hollow, and transversely' of the lower part of the interior of the body is a partition, as 18. r1`he portion of the interior of the body 10 below the transverse partition 1S\thereby provides a recess 19, in the lower end of the body of the door. The lower edge of the inner wall 13 of the body is turned upwardly interiorly of the recess 19 to provide a hook-shaped, or substantially U-shaped member 20, in cross-section', which is disposed across the door, while the lower edge of the outer wall 14 of the body is likewise turned upwardly interiorly of the recess to provide a similar hookshaped, or approximately U-shaped member 21 also disposed crosswise of the door in spaced relation to the U-shaped member 20. The end wall 15 of the body 10 at the recess 19 may be cut-out, as at 22, to form a passage leading into the recess, and in this end wall communicating with Vthe cut-out is a smaller cut-out, or opening 23 which is above the partition 18.

The body 10 is mounted on the frame o f a doorway so that when moved to open and `closed positions its lower edge will travel back and forth on top of the rail 12 across the doorway, the door being operated by any suitable means, for instance, by the wellknown mechanism at present employed to operate car doors. In order to prevent rain, snow and drafts of air from passing under the door when closed, in the recess 19 of the body is a guide, as 24, which is arranged so as to be slidably seated in the groove of the rail 12, or to overhang` the rail when the groove is dispensed with as well as being eX- tensibly movable inwardly and outwardly of the recess of the body.V The guide 24 has a plate, or strip 25 disposed in the recess 19 of the body 10 between the U-shaped members 20 and 2l, and this plate is substantially rectangular in shape of a length and width so as to be freely movable in the recess. Depending downwardly from one of the lengthwiseedges of the plate 25 is a fiange, as 26, which may be formed by bending the plate downwardly and then upwardly also in sub- Y stantially a U-shape, and this flange may be movably disposed in the groove of the rail, or arranged so as to movably overhang the rail for closing the space between the lower' edge of the door and the base, or floor of the doorway.

The flange 26 provides the guide proper for the'door, and'serving to holdV the flange together with the plate 25 in the recess 19 of the body so that the flange will extensibly move below the body of the door, I provide retainers, as 27 and 28, which coact with the U-shaped members 20 and 21. The retainer 27 is preferably of the shape of an inverted U, in cross-section, and this retainer is formed by bending upwardly the lengthwise edge of the plate 25 opposite to lthe flange 26 to provide one arm of the U-shaped retainer, after which the plate is reversely flexed to provide the second arm of the retamer in spaced relation to its first arm. The retainer 28is also preferably of the shape of an inverted U, in cross-section, and this retainer is likewise formed by continuing upwardly the second arm when formed of the U-shaped flange 26 a distance cor- Y responding to the height of the U-shaped retainer 27 to provide one arm of this retainer, and the plate is then reversely bent to provide a second arm for the retainer in spaced relation to its first arm. These inverted U-shaped retainers are Vcoperatively interfittedin the U-shaped members 2O and 21k by p scope thereof.

the second arms of the retainers being movably disposed between the arms of the U-shaped members, and both the retainers and members may be so proportioned that the flange 26 will protrude out of the recess of the body almost entirely when the guide is lowered its maximum distance in the recess 19 of the body. By providing the guide 24 so as to operate in this manner any space under the body of the door will not alone be closed when the door is shut against the passage of rain, snow and drafts of air, but the guide will also adjust itself to compensate for sagging of the base, or floor of the doorway, and, furthermore, in event of the rail becoming clogged with ice, or dirt this movable guide will also tend to clear the rail -of the accumulated substances.

The guide 24 is applied to the door by being passed through the cut-out 22'so as to be arranged to coact with the vU-shaped membersk 20 and 21, as above explained, and

4serving to operatively hold the guidein the -an extending lug 34 which is inserted through the opening 23 communicatingwith the cut-out 22, this lug being slightly bent so as to lay under the rear end wall 15 of the body', and by means of screws 35 and 36 passed through registered pairs of spaced threaded holes in this rear end wall as well as in the lug 34 thel plate will be removably held onv the rear end wall of the-body of the doorl for closing the cut-out 22. Thus I provide a very simple, efficient and durable door for'cars and other structures.r

In the foregoing description, I have embodied the preferred form of my invention,

but I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto, as-I am aware that modifications may be made therein without departing from the principle, or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention,

therefore I reservevto myself the right to make such changes as fairly fall withinthe I Iaving thus described my invention, I claim-as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent f- 1.l In `a sliding door having a body with a recessed lower edge, a guide with a trans 1 verse vplatek having a depending flange movably held in the recess of the body-"and adapted'to rclose the space under the door when mounted as well as to compensate for variations of the space.

2. In a sliding door having a body with a recessed lower edge, a guide with a flange having retainers movably held to the body so that the flange will move inwardly and outwardly of the recess of the body for closing the space under the door when mounted as well as compensating for variation of the space.

3. In a sliding door having a body with. a recessed lower edge including spaced substantally Ushaped members on the walls of the body interiorly of the recess, a guide composed of a transverse plate having a depending ilange and having substantially U-shaped members movably attached to the U-shaped members of the-body so that the V15 guide will automatically move inwardly and outwardly of the recess of the body when the door is mounted to close the space under the door as well as compensating for variation of the space.

This specification signed and witnessed this 28th day of July, A. D. 1917.

PAUL F. STAGKE.

Witnesses:

GEORGE F. BENTLEY, V. M. RUMPH. 

